Doll election
In 2011, Mattel introduced atype of contest that would prove to be rare: doll elections. The setup of a doll election is that there are three candidates of different character development backgrounds that fans can vote for to be released as a doll the next year. The two who don't win are not doomed to never be made into a doll, but rather won't be available until the year after the winner is released. As of yet, Monster High has only hosted two doll elections: one in 2011 during San Diego Comic-Con International and one in 2014 in September. Both doll elections have been met with controversy that accuses Mattel of having decided the winners beforehand and dissatisfaction that most of the participants end up as Comic-Con-exclusive dolls and the rest as store-exclusive dolls. 2011 In 2011, visitors of the convention, of Facebook, and of the ''Monster High'' website were asked to vote for one of three new characters from July 21st to July 24th, and the winner would be made into a doll in 2012. The candidates were Headless Headmistress Bloodgood, Scarah Screams, and Wydowna Spider, who was entered as "Daughter of Arachne". On August 11th, Scarah Screams was announced to have won the contest and she became available as the Comic-Con-exclusive doll of 2012. In 2013, Bloodgood was released as a Toys"R"Us-exclusive doll and Wydowna was the Comic-Con-exclusive doll of that year. Content The contest was promoted and held on three places: the convention floor, Facebook, and the ''Monster high'' website. The first had the dolls on display in a special case, while the websites had to do with stockphotos. The contest and characters were introduced as follows: Controversy Shortly after the announcement that Scarah Screams had won the contest, accusations were levelled that Mattel had fixed the outcome. Specifically, the claim was that Wydowna Spider was to have been the winner. Reports from the convention floor noted that, while Scarah was initially leading, Wydowna gained the upper hand when both dolls had between 600 and 700 votes. Meanwhile, Wydowna's Facebook likes number 270, while Scarah's count 263. Neither report is a guarantee that Wydowna outvoted Scarah, but they do support the claim. On the other hand, the one uncertain source is the Monster High website. Since the website attracts more visitors than either Facebook due to the former being promoted on every single doll box or San Diego Comic-Con International due to ticket limitations, a preference for Scarah there could've well tipped the balance in her favor. It is not a secret that the contest had a research aspect to it. The three contestants each represent a different background that at the time made them pioneers in various developments the doll series would follow. Scarah, while having a simplistic design compared to the other two, had an established presence in the franchise in her role as backgrounder. Bloodgood had been a regular member of the cartoon's cast by the time of Comic-Con and her doll had an interesting gimmick, but she was also an adult, thus making her further removed from the identity of the audience at large. And Wydowna was a revolutionary design, but also a character with no history and not even a name. Since the contest, numerous backgrounders have been turned into characters and the doll designs have become much more diverse and bold. It is not out of the question that, on the condition that there would be sufficient enthusiasm for the contest, all three contenders have always been meant to be released. In Wydowna's case, it is peculiar that if one is to believe the outcome was not fixed, she was the only one of the contestants not to have been trademarked shortly before the contest, hence why she entered simply as "Daughter of Arachne". Mattel also is known to fix the outcomes of promotions on the Monster High website, so there is precedent to false polls. Still, all this is circumstantial evidence and whether or not the contest was fixed is impossible to determine. Later on, fans did not react positively either to the fact that both Scarah and Wydowna, the two most voted-for options during the contest, had their default outfit dolls released as convention-exclusive dolls in the following two years. Headless Headmistress Bloodgood was also an exclusive doll, but a store-exclusive one, making her easier to obtain despite her being the least voted-for doll. 2014 In 2014, the ''Monster High'' website exclusively featured another doll election.X. Visitors of the website were asked to vote for one of three new characters from September 2nd to September 14th, and the winner would be made into a doll in 2015. The candidates were Quill Talyntino, Finnegan Wake, and Gory Fangtell. On September 18th, Finnegan Wake was announced to have won the election. This was followed by an add-on election in 2015 starting on January 16th and which was said to last until January 31st but in reality was up until March 28th. The election allowed visitors of the Monster High website to vote on six parts of Finnegan's profile. For each part, there were two options given. Content The contest was held on the ''Monster high'' website, but separately on each national version in existence at the time, meaning there were 25 separate polls. Unlike the 2011 election, there were no mockup dolls available and fans had to vote based on webisode presence. While Facebook did not feature a poll of its own, it did promote the election. The contest and characters were introduced as follows: As with the September doll election, the January profile election was held on the ''Monster high'' website, but separately on each national version in existence at the time, meaning there were 25 separate polls. Visitors could vote in six profile categories, in the order Freaky Flaw, Favorite Food, Favorite Activity, Killet Style, Pet, and Pet Peeve. Notes * When originally uploaded, the poll displayed different names and species for Quill and Finnegan, calling them respectively Trina Talon (daughter of a witch) and Rider (son of a newt), which is the latter's name from his webisode debut. Both aspects were changed after a few minutes in the English version of the poll, but versions in other languages kept the incorrect names in use for longer. Category:Monster High website Category:San Diego Comic-Con International 2011